


Another Time

by Elwyne



Series: The Ex-Detectives [2]
Category: Broadchurch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-25
Updated: 2014-04-25
Packaged: 2018-01-20 17:03:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1518380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elwyne/pseuds/Elwyne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More years have gone by since 'The Ex-Detectives', and Ellie is surprised by a knock at her door.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Time

The knock at the door was so tentative, she almost missed it. Canned laughter jangled from the telly; sparks crackled in the fireplace; the microwave hummed, heating cocoa, and the gentle tap reached her ears only because it was so unexpected.

Ellie checked her mobile. There were no new messages, nothing since Olly's text. He would have called if anything were wrong. Still, she opened the door with trepidation.

It was Alec. He wore a long black coat, dripping with rain, and his hair was plastered flat against his head. His face was fleshier than she remembered, and more heavily lined. She stared.

"Miller," he said.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her heart thudding like gunfire in her ears.

His eyes widened in surprise. "Naught I know of. Are you all right?"

The microwave chimed, bringing her back to earth. "Yes of course, sorry," she said. "Didn't expect you, is all."

"Nor I." He smiled, the expression foreign on his face. "How are you, Ellie?"

"Fine, fine." She looked around, flustered. "Won't you come in? Would you care for something? A glass of wine? I was about to have a cup of cocoa, if you'd like. With a little something in it."

He stepped into her tidy foyer, his boots leaving spreading puddles on the linoleum. She took his sodden coat and hung it by the door. He was dressed for work: crisp white shirt, grey tie, suit jacket; his jaw was freshly shaved, and he looked like a stranger. He brushed the damp hair out of his eyes with one slim hand.

"Thanks, I'm on duty in a few hours. I wouldn't say no to a cuppa if it's not too much trouble."

"No trouble at all." Ellie hurried into the kitchen and filled the kettle, her mind still racing. "What brings you to Norwich, sir? Er, Alec?"

"Just back from sick leave," he said. "This is where I landed."

She turned, the kettle in her hand. "Here? You've been assigned here?"

He nodded.

"Why here?" She could hear the panic in her voice. "Why does it have to be here?"

"I'm sorry, Ellie," he said. "I didn't know. When I saw your name -"

"Where did you see my name?"

He squirmed. "Tom's, actually. Known agitators."

Ellie slammed the kettle down and switched it on. "Bloody hell."

"I thought you should know. So we didn't surprise each other."

"Thanks. I guess."

"If you'd like me to go -"

"No." The speed of her answer startled her; she ran her hands through her hair to hide their trembling. "No, it's all right. Sorry, I've just been wearing thin lately."

"How's work?"

"It isn't."

He raised a questioning eyebrow. She turned away and opened the microwave. The cocoa had boiled over, but what was left in the mug was still hot. She added a generous tot of rum.

"They let me go," she said. "Said I couldn't focus on my work. Of course I couldn't, not with Tom in trouble at school every other day, and then with the police."

"Is he here?" asked Alec, glancing nervously at the stairs.

"No, they're with Olly for the weekend. He's taken them to Sheringham."

"I hope they're having better weather."

"They don't mind, if it's raining they'll just stay in and play video games." The kettle whistled; Ellie spooned tea into the chipped china pot and poured the water. "Olly's getting married, did you know? No, of course you wouldn't. Nice girl. Lucy's over the moon. He says he wants to spend some time with his cousins first, just the boys, you know?"

Alec nodded. Ellie sipped at her steaming mug. The hot liquid burned her tongue, and the rum warmed her all the way down. She sighed.

"How are you, then?" she said. "The heart's all right now?"

"So it seems. The doctors gave me their go-ahead. I had to pass the academy physical again, though. No man my age should have to do that."

Ellie chuckled into her cocoa, imagining spindly DI Hardy on the course with all those rugged youngsters. It almost didn't hurt anymore.

"All told," he went on, "with the surgery, rehab, remedial and supplementary training, I've been off the job nearly four years. It's like being twenty again, but without being twenty."

"That could be good or bad," giggled Ellie. The rum was getting to her.

His mouth quirked in a lopsided smile. "I suppose."

Ellie set her mug down and poured tea for Alec. "Cream and sugar?"

"No thanks."

She passed him the cup. "Well then, come along and have a seat by the fire."

 

Ellie sank into the sofa. Alec perched on the edge of a run-down armchair by the fireplace, gazing into the glowing embers. He wrapped his long fingers tightly around his cup, as if drawing out its warmth. She hadn't realized how graceful his hands were, how delicate. She tore her eyes away.

"So you're the new DI in town then," she said.

"That I am."

"No child murders, I hope."

"If I never see another, it'll be too soon."

"It isn't a bad place, Norwich. I mean, it's darkest London compared to Broadchurch, but -" Her voice caught, and she swallowed carefully. "It's not a bad place," she finished.

"Average," said Alec. "University students, working-class blokes, tourists. Ordinary sort of trouble."

"And Tom," said Ellie bitterly.

"And Tom," he agreed.

"Why do they have his name? He's a child, not a terrorist."

"He's a troubled young man," said Alec gently. 

"I've done all I could," said Ellie. She picked up her empty mug and stormed into the kitchen. Alec followed, watching from the doorway as she shakily poured a cup of tea.

"It's not your fault, Ellie," he said.

"Piss off."

Alec said nothing. Ellie spooned sugar into her tea. "Sorry," she said finally.

"I'll look out for him."

"Course you will."

"He's what, fifteen?"

She nodded. "Just last month."

"A difficult time for anyone."

She nodded again, gradually remembering that her old boss had a child of his own. One who'd been fifteen when they met.

"What about your daughter?" she asked cautiously.

The unaccustomed smile returned. "She survived it, being fifteen. Sixteen too, and the rest of them. Made it all the way to university." He seemed to expand, like a filling balloon. "She'll be twenty at the end of May."

"Do you see her much?"

"A fair bit. She's here, at the University of the Arts."

Ellie found herself smiling. "That explains it, then."

"You've found me out, Detective Sergeant."

He caught her teacup as it slipped from her fingers. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I'm so sorry."

She couldn't speak. Her shoulders shook with the effort of not crying, and still the tears poured down her face. Alec set down the cup and wrapped his arms around her.

His embrace was like a jolt of lighting. All her carefully constructed defenses fell away; she clung to him and wept, helplessly, hanging on his strength as the agony gushed out of her. He smelled of rain and aftershave, and smoke from the fireplace; his heart, his damaged, mended heart, beat steadily in her ear. For once in all the long years since that horrible day, Ellie felt safe. Her sobs began to fade; still he held her, pouring life into her like rain in the desert, like winter sunlight, like an understanding friend. She lifted her face to his, gazing into his somber brown eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said again.

"Don't be," she said, and kissed him.


End file.
